Minister Jens Spahn reappoints the Health Advisory Council
14.01.2019 11:45
Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn appointed a new expert council on February 1, 2019 to assess developments in the healthcare system. The Advisory Council is the most renowned body for scientific policy advice in the healthcare sector. It is characterized by the independence of the interdisciplinary work of seven professors who represent the fields of medicine, economics and nursing science.
“There are major challenges ahead of us in health policy. The Council of Experts has repeatedly provided important impetus for the government and parliament - such as the further development of emergency care. I am also looking forward to suggestions that politicians can take up concretely in the future. The different perspectives of these renowned scientists are a good basis for this. It is important to me that topics such as digitalization, big data and artificial intelligence are given even greater attention,” said Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn.
The task of the Advisory Council is to analyze the development of health care with its medical and economic effects. The Council should develop priorities for reducing supply deficits and existing oversupply with a view to providing patients with care that meets their needs. The new composition of the advisory committee includes both experienced experts and “new minds”. So the minister has the economist Prof. Dr. Beate Jochimsen (College of Economics and Law, Berlin) and the doctor Prof. Dr. Christof von Kalle (German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg).
The general practitioner is once again on the committee Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Gerlach (University of Frankfurt), the health economist Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Greiner (Bielefeld University), the nursing scientist Prof. Dr. Gabriele Meyer (University of Halle), the health economist Prof. Dr. Jonas Schreyögg (University of Hamburg) and the pharmacologist Prof. Dr. Petra Thürmann (University of Witten-Herdecke).
Jens Spahn praised the achievements of the previous council members and the health economist Prof. Dr. Eberhard Wille (University of Mannheim) and the doctor Prof. Dr. Marion Haubitz (University of Hanover), who will no longer be appointed to the advisory board: “I would particularly like to thank Professor Wille, who has significantly stimulated and shaped the work of the Advisory Council for over 25 years, including a long period as chairman. I asked him, as did Prof. Haubitz, to continue to support politicians with their expertise and good advice.”
In the last report, which has been discussed with the specialist public at several conferences since the summer of 2018, the Council particularly commented on needs-based control in the healthcare system. In addition to a much-discussed concept for the reorganization of emergency care in Germany, this concerns the further development of the clinical landscape, cross-sector collaboration between hospitals and practices and the coordinated care of patients with mental illnesses and back pain.